NEW LONDON - Testimony expected on Thursday from the former girlfriend of a Hartford man accused of killingthree members of a Griswold family was put on hold as an evidence suppression hearing for Sergio Correa is poised to enter a second week.

Attorney Christopher Duby, appointed by the Public Defenders Office in New London Superior Court to assist the former girlfriend, Tanisha Vicento, was granted a week-long continuance by Judge Hunchu Kwak without objection from prosecutors or Correas defense team.

Vicento was scheduled to be the second witness called by Public Defenders Joe Lopez and Corrie-Ann Mainville after they elicited testimony from Correas step-sister and co-defendant on Wednesday. The suppression hearing began on Monday.

Mainville asked that she and Lopez be notified as soon as possible if Vicento was contemplating exercising her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination before she takes the stand.

Vicento, who was a key state witness during Correas 2019 probable cause hearingis again to fill that role when her ex-boyfriends trial begins in November.

Vicento is expected to be questioned about a 2003 Mitsubishi Galant she co-owned with Correa when they lived at a Donald Street apartment in December 2017. That's the same month Kenneth, Janet and Matthew Lindquist were murdered in and outside their 70 Kenwood Drive home.

The defense is seeking to exclude the vehicle and its contents from being presented as trial evidence, citing a lack of probable cause and exigent circumstances before its seizure by state police detectives on Dec. 28, 2017.

Police said items from the vehicle were traced back to the Lindquists home and Correas stepsister told police she and her brother used the car to drive to and from the crime scene on Dec. 20, 2017.

Probation officials previously said Vicento voluntarily signed a release form allowing them to search the car, and police said she gave over the vehicle keys willingly shortly after. Lopez seems to be suggesting Vicento was intimidated into cooperating with law enforcement officials - a scenario prosecutors contest.

During the 2019 probable cause hearing, Vicento tearfully recounted Correa alluding that he and his sibling killed Janet and Kenneth Lindquist. She recalled Correa leaving their bed the night of the killings and being unable to reach him by phone.

Hours later, she said Correa was back with their car.

He showed me something in the truck, she said. Two long guns, which I told him to get rid of. He said he buried one and got rid of the other.

Correas sister, Ruth Correa, who is cooperating with the state in exchange for a 40-year sentence on three counts of felony murder, previously confessed to helping her brother murder Matthew Lindquist as part of a scheme to steal guns from Kenneth Lindquists gun safe.

Ruth Correa confessed her brother brutally bludgeoned Kenneth Lindquist with a bat and beat and strangled Janet Lindquist before the siblings set the home ablaze. The couples badly burned bodies were found in the fire rubble, both showing signs of head trauma.

Vicento said Sergio Correa warned her days after the murders to stay away from his sister because she was crazy, she testified.

He said he did the dad and she did the mom, Vicento said. I didnt understand until I watched the news about a big fire and people had died.

Vicento said the Mitsubishi Galant she shared with Sergio Correa had for weeks contained a small metal bat, machete and empty gas can. Ruth Correa previously testified Matthew Lindquist was struck with a machete before the siblings stabbed him multiple times and left his body in a wooded area near the Lindquist home. His body was not discovered for months.

Vicento, who sobbed frequently throughout her testimony, said she recalled seeing Ruth Correa wearing new pieces of jewelry after the murdersand noticed her friend had a purple laptop in her apartment. Ruth Correa testified the laptop was stolen from the Lindquist home, but on the stand denied stealing any jewelry.

Vicento told police during a May 11, 2018 interview that when she confronted Sergio Correa regarding his whereabouts on the night of the murders, he explained his sister snapped and things went bad, according to an arrest warrant.

During a subsequent interview days later, Vicento, who seemed to have a close relationship with Ruth Correa, told detectives she became fearful for her life and the lives of her children after the probation search.

She said Sergio Correa told her he and his sister killed two people and burned the house down, the warrant states.

Sergio Correa ischarged with murder with multiple victims, three counts of felony murder, home invasion, first-degree robbery, first-degree arson and second-degree arson.

Editor's note: Attorney Christopher Duby's name was incorrect in a previous version of this story.

John Penney can be reached at jpenney@norwichbulletin.com or at(860) 857-6965

Read more from the original source:

A triple-murder suspects ex-girlfriend was supposed to testify today. Why didn't she? - Norwich Bulletin